Oh
you
hello in this video I show you how you
can disassemble disposable interpreters
and scanners as well as combinations of
the two furthermore how you can salvage
valuable electronic mechanical and
optical components from these devices in
the video following this one I will take
a closer look at some of these parts
analyze them and finally make some
suggestions what they could be reused
for for demonstration purposes I will
now disassemble this multifunction
device which includes an inkjet printer
as well as a scanner unit it is an HP
brand PSC 22 10 which was built in 2002
the procedure of disassembling will of
course vary with each model and brand
the essentials however will always be
the same
first the scanners cover and then the
rear access door can just be pulled out
and put away after that all accessible
screws on the backside and or on the
bottom should be removed for this you
will most probably need a set of talks
or even security Torx screw drivers of
different sizes the cheapest way to go
is to buy one with exchangeable heads
like the one I use in this video with
the screws removed you can now try to
pull off some of the plastic covers this
however rarely works without the use of
some force
with some printers like this one you can
salvage a little loudspeaker
from one of the plastic covers
with some of the plastic covers removed
and after unplugging some flatbacks
cables and wires it should be possible
to separate the entire scanner unit from
the printer at once
we will take apart the scanner unit
later after we have finished
disassembling the printer with a scanner
section gone all remaining part of the
plastic casing can normally be removed
this usually again involves a fair
amount of unscrewing as mentioned before
all these screws are the stalks type to
be exact
they are torques size t10 self tippers
and I would call them the most used
screw type in printers
in addition to the screws the plastic
covers are often fastened by some
plastic hooks just use a little force
and you will get them off
at the back side of the device located
in the little blue box we find the
printers power supply unit it has its
own plastic enclosure as it is often the
case with this sole part directly
connected to the mains it is a
switched-mode power supply as it is to
be found in any modern printer I will
reverse engineer it in part 2 of this
series and show you some useful purposes
it can be reused for next I have to
remove lots of torque screws again this
time to get loose the printers mainboard
which basically controls the device it
is a high quality build but holds mostly
highly specialized components that can
hardly be reused nonetheless we will
take a look at it in part two the same
is true for a smaller board which mainly
carries the devices network controller
in almost any printer you will find an
arrangement like this at the end of one
of the steel axles glued on this white
cogwheel is a transparent disc which
cuts through opening of a little black
component which is soldered on a PCB on
the right hand side of that disk this
component is a so-called photo
interrupter it is a sword of light
barrier that is used to measure the
angle of revolution of the cogwheel and
thus the axle at the edge of the
transparent disc a shadowy ring is to be
seen when viewed under the microscope
however it is revealed that this is not
a ring at all but a series of tiny
opaque lines which interrupt the light
barrier when passed through the photo
interrupter and thus giving education
for the angle of revolution of the axle
this principle is put to use in many
different parts of the printer and I
will experiment with it in part 2 of
this series the small DC motor the board
carrying the photo interrupter and the
transparent disk can easily be removed
while this smaller DC motor turns the
axle which pulls in the paper and this
is just responsible for the relative
movement of the printer head in y
direction the bigger DC motor here
located in the upper left corner moves
the printer heads in X direction
these motors are usually held in place
by two or three screws make sure to keep
these screws
I recommend to loosely attach them to
the motor again directly after salvaging
this way you will not have to look for
fitting screws once you want to install
the motor in a new application this
bigger DC motor can for example be
reused for the drive of an RC car or a
smaller robot as I did in an earlier
project but more about this in part 2
when as in this case the motors have no
soldering tax but these little white
jacks it is important to salvage the
cable harness to
because it already comes with a fitting
connectors
with the motor gone I will now demand
the big shiny steel bar which serves as
a rail for the printer heads to slide on
first some lubricant is wiped off then
two or three screws at the two ends of
the bar must be removed
then the flat Flags cables that connect
the mainboard with the printer heads
must be pulled off then it should be
possible to free the bar from the
printer and likewise the heads from the
bar
this tooth belt can usually be separated
from the printer heads by simply pulling
it out the steel bar is a high quality
component that can be reused for
numerous mechanical purposes like exits
for gear trains do not throw it away
in front of the steel bar a transparent
band is spent this band is made of the
same material as a transparent disk we
saw before it two serves in a photo
interrupter arrangement which in this
case determines the position of the
printer heads on the x-axis
not the main reason to tear down a
printer but still useful are the
numerous springs of different sizes and
shapes that can be salvaged from it to
get down to the remaining steel axles it
is helpful to free the printer from some
pieces of metal first
at the bottom side of this waist in tang
we find yet another DC motor we can get
it lose by removing just one screw the
white cog wheels might prove useful to
do not try to take apart the tank itself
it is a mess
at the backside of the motor is yet
another photo interrupter arrangement
the lines are much thicker here and can
be seen with a bear eye this can be used
to measure the motors frequency of
revolution which I will do with the
follow-up of this video
the remaining axles which serve the
purpose of pulling the paper in from the
paper tray moving the paper under the
printer heads and pushing the paper out
of the printer again can be loosened by
turning a plastic lever at each end of
the axles
us turned around the excellence can
simply be pulled out of the device
these axles often carry interesting
looking complicated gear trains from
which many cog wheels can be salvaged
the printer unit is now stripped down to
its bare skeleton but the scanner unit
still remains to be disassembled with
this model just one single screw has to
be removed then more than ever force
might be required to get the casing open
here the panel holding LCD and buttons
just pops off maybe the LCD could be
reused for something I however have no
use for this part in this unit the glass
panel that covers the scanner can be
freed from the case by breaking off one
single plastic pin
the panel you will find a piece of
plastic that can be cut off with a sharp
knife
the residual glue can be wiped off with
a piece of cloth and some Universal
thinner
this glass panel can be reused in the
process of PCB etching as I will
demonstrate in a later video
in the scanner remains a linear drive
that is powered by a stepper motor that
must be unscrewed
this tooth belt can again simply be
pulled out this arrangement could be
used for all kinds of purposes where a
linear movement is necessary I however
have other plans for the stepper motor
as you will see in the follow-up video
next you can remove the board which
carries the scanner CCD chip
the small board that you see here is an
inverter which transforms a low-level DC
voltage into a high voltage AC to power
a cold cathode tube that serves as the
scanners lighting
with a CCD and that you've removed all
electronic paths are gone what remains
are a couple of optical components like
these mirror glasses
and last but not least a funky lens
system that is optically coded and
produces interesting reflections
the device is now completely
disassembled